Malcolm F. Purinton, PhD, is a beer historian, food historian, and Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern University in Boston, where he teaches World and Food History as well as the histories of Technology, Capitalism, and Imperialism. His research follows beer across centuries, continents, and cultures — tracing what brewing traditions reveal about industrialization, empire, globalization, and everyday life.
His book, Globalization in a Glass: The Rise of Pilsner Beer through Technology, Taste, and Empire (Bloomsbury Academic), tells the story of how a single beer style — the light golden lager now found in every country in the world — came to dominate the globe in less than two centuries, through a combination of science, industrial ambition, and imperial trade.
His work has been featured by CNN, NPR’s KUOW and WBUR, GQ Magazine, TED-Ed, the New Books Network, and others. He is a frequent public speaker, bringing the history of beer to audiences ranging from academic conferences to brewery tap rooms.
When he isn’t in an archive or at a lectern, he can usually be found in pursuit of the next obscure historical brewing record — or the beer that inspired it.
